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Leader Defends Hezbollah Against OIC Charges

The Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei denounced the recent announcement by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation against the Hezbollah movement, noting that the group has acted as a bulwark against Israel, the common enemy of Muslims.
"Despite abundant practical and propagandistic threats, Lebanon's Hezbollah is demonstrating its power in the Muslim world," Ayatollah Khamenei was quoted as saying by his official website on Wednesday.
"Its condemnation on a scrap of paper by a corrupt, dependent and empty government is of no significance," he said in an apparent reference to Saudi Arabia in a meeting with the members of the Union of Islamic Pupils' Associations in Tehran.
The announcement issued by the 57-member OIC in a summit on April 15 condemned Lebanon's Shia group Hezbollah for allegedly spreading "terrorism" and destabilizing the national security of member countries.
The organization, however, did not officially blacklist Hezbollah nor circulate its final communiqué when it condemned the Lebanese group.
Hezbollah and Iran are allies and, along with Russia, have backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his fight against armed insurgent groups supported by Saudi Arabia and its regional and western allies in a five-year-old civil war. Ayatollah Khamenei highlighted Israel's defeat by Hezbollah during the 2006 Lebanon War, drawing a contrast between this victory and the defeats inflicted on powerful armies of Arab states by Israel in their conflicts.
"Hezbollah and its pious youths are shining like the sun and they are a source of honor for the Muslim world," he said.
The Leader noted that students are officers in the "soft warfare" being waged against Iran by arrogant powers and the main condition for the victory of truth is the resistance of "soft warfare" officers against problems.
"The truth belongs to youth and with God's grace, the day will come when problems will be resolved gradually and the youths will emerge victorious," he said.
Ayatollah Khamenei also said Iran's strong presence in the West Asian region and the world, Palestine, resistance and Iranian-Islamic lifestyle are bones of contention between hegemonic powers and the Islamic Republic of Iran.
"If in a country, western lifestyle spreads, the elites in such a society will turn into individuals who would become submissive to the policies of hegemonic powers," he said.